A rare Nintendo 64 controller found in the attic will sell for up to £1,000 in Britain.
Liam Clousdale discovered that a controller he received for his birthday in 1998 was in fact a rare Foxdata gamepad. The controllers came in Desert Storm, Red Rain, Purple Forest and Chrome Leopard variants and are now highly sought after by collectors.
Hansons Auctioneers has valued Clousdale’s custom Chrome Leopard controller at between £700 and £1,000 ahead of an upcoming auction (via Eurogamer).
David Wilson-Turner, head of Hansons’ Toys and Video Games Auction, elaborated on the controller’s value Hanson’s websitestating that the Foxdata series is “increasingly sought after in the video game market. Although information is limited, it is believed that Foxdata has produced approximately 800 of these custom controllers across the four designs, meaning there are fewer than 200 examples of them Could be Liam’s controller in the series.” world.”
Although it pales in comparison to modern hardware, Clousdale spoke fondly of his time using the controller: “I used it quite a bit and loved having the craziest looking pad. Although the N64 has long been put away, I am still an avid gamer.
“One of my friends saw that a Foxdata pad had been sold for quite a bit and remembered that I had one. He asked me about it, so I grabbed my old pad from a box in the attic where it had been carefully stored. I then contacted Hansons because I found an article about a previous game sale they were having. I was very surprised by how much it was potentially worth. I’d be happy to pass it on to a true retro collector.”
As the games industry matures, the cultural cache provided by retro memorabilia only seems to grow. While there have been successful modern attempts to recreate the feel of retro gamepads, such as the 8BitDo NeoGeo Wireless Controller, there is no substitute for the original item.
The Chrome Leopard will be auctioned on October 17, when collectors will bid on the controller.
Looking for something more modern? Check out our list of the best Nintendo Switch games And best Nintendo Switch controllers.